Although many people enjoy going on nature hikes and camping, some of them can attest to some close calls they’ve had out in the wilderness.
Whether it’s because they ran across a dangerous animal, some seriously inclement weather, or simply rough terrain, the natural world has given them some harrowing stories to tell.
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From those stories, we can come away with one very important lesson: nature is just as unforgiving as it is beautiful.
Yet, because of all the surprises it still has in store for us after all of our years on this planet, it’s also true that even the scary parts of nature are fascinating.
You may have heard that cassowaries are the last bird you want to mess with, but this makes it very clear as to why.
I think it’s a safe assumption that you don’t want this fearsome claw coming at your face.
This wouldn’t be a pleasant sight to come across, but it’s not quite the nightmare it seems.
What we’re seeing here is a jawfish carrying its mate’s eggs in its mouth. Now that’s a birthing coach.
This goes a long way to demonstrate why this bird is called a kingfisher.
It’s hard to tell just how deep it dove to catch this fish, but unlike some birds, it’s obviously not afraid of completely submerging itself.
This hyena has clearly just enjoyed a pretty satisfying meal.
But while the meat from its kill may be on the way to its stomach, the way it’s gnawing on this bone clearly indicates that it still wants more.
And if that wasn’t enough to indicate how fearsome hyenas really are, here’s what one actually looks like when it laughs.
Yeah, it’s a pretty far cry from Ed’s goofy giggles in The Lion King . It almost seems more like a staccato roar than a laugh.
It’s hard to tell what kind of bird this alligator is eating, but it definitely doesn’t have any hope left.
Although this photo may not completely indicate how still the bird’s legs are, it seems unlikely that it would even be squirming at this point.
We usually see birds of prey pick on smaller animals, but they can handle each other just as well.
For instance, this hawk just grabbed another hawk in mid-air and held it upside down in this tree for a couple of minutes.
It then let go, but it’s unclear what happened after that.
An animal doesn’t always have to be large to startle us.
For instance, after we all recoil in horror from the sight of this thing, you may be surprised to learn that it’s a mayfly larva.
As an adult, these things are barely the size of a fingertip, so this is the only way you can see how creepy it really looks as a kid. Lucky you.
Considering how large bears can be, and considering even further that polar bears are the largest of them, this photo may come as a surprise.
That’s right, no matter how big a polar bear gets, it’s still probably not going to grow quite as large as a walrus.
We may not usually find the blubbery sea mammals intimidating, but that’s quite a mind-blowing thought.
Early cartoons often depicted hunting animals pointing in a perfectly straight fashion, but it turns out that’s not so unrealistic.
For instance, this cougar’s back is straight enough that we could almost use it as a table. You know, if it would ever let us in a million years.
More and more people are coming to realize how vicious and powerful hippos actually are, which makes this scene even more impressive.
Although the deceptively dopey-looking creature is the terror of much of the animal kingdom, it still can apparently still get easily brushed aside by an elephant.
A volcanic thunderstorm seems ominous from a distance, but it looks downright apocalyptic up close.
I’m not sure how someone got close enough to actually see lava rain from the sky like this, but you couldn’t pay me enough to actually head towards this nightmare scenario.
A sloth may not have a lot of options for warding off predators, but that goes double if they can fly.
When even nimble animals essentially treat this situation as a death sentence, it’s fairly safe to say that this harpy eagle won’t have any problems making a meal out of a creature known for moving slow.
It doesn’t exactly do anybody’s arachnophobia any favors when a spider takes on a larger creature.
And that’s especially true in this case because the bat this spider is capturing doesn’t actually seem that much larger than it does.
Sorry, folks.
Most of us aren’t trying to get eaten by anything, but even with that in mind, the mouth of the oyster toadfish deserves a special “NOPE.”
In case you’re wondering why anything could possibly need this many teeth, the answer apparently concerns the fact that their prey struggles all the way down their system.
Pleasant dreams.
Here we see the head of the Wallace bee, which is the largest of its kind in the world.
This picture makes it hard to tell exactly how big this insect is, but it’s usually about an inch-and-a-half long with a two-inch wingspan.
This caiman likely thought it had the upper hand at first, but that’s obviously not the case anymore.
This jaguar had to get through a tough, scaly exterior to sink its teeth into the beast, but those eyes certainly seem determined.
Even the king of the jungle can find itself dethroned sometimes and this lion couldn’t feel more powerless in this moment.
After this buffalo got a lucky goring in, it tossed the lion aside and confidently faced the others lurking behind it.
Only, it seemed that it now stood alone as its impressive display inspired the others to scatter.
This martial eagle didn’t even have to look at this lizard to know it wasn’t getting away.
It almost seems like the lizard doesn’t even know what hit it yet, but it’ll definitely have some clues when it finds itself suddenly flying.
We’re going to see ants do some daring things today, but this is a particularly bold move.
Many of us don’t want to mess with wasps at the best of times, but the ant is certainly doing its best to bring it to the ground.
Just in case the divers don’t provide enough of a sense of scale, this whale shark is 49 feet long.
Yes, I’m sorry to tell anyone with a fear of sharks that at least one exists that’s essentially big enough to be a yacht.
You’re not lucky to run into it if you steer clear of the Galápagos Islands, though.
There aren’t many creatures who can’t still intimidate us after death, but the Paddlefish is definitely one of them.
It’s a pretty strange looking creature in life, but its skull somehow seems like it’s staring at us with evil in its eyes.
Believe it or not, we’re arguably looking at just one snake here.
It’s rare to see a two-headed snake, and even rarer to see one live this long, but somehow this one manages to make it work.
This might not be a comforting sight for most people, but it’s actually good that so many huntsman spiders are clustered together like this.
They usually take shelter in tree bark, but this area restored by Australia’s Heritage Bush conservation group still didn’t have enough to go around.
So instead, they were able to find a temporary home in a nesting box the group had set up for possums.
It’s pretty hard to blame this bird for falling prey to this vine snake.
Even without its leaf-like face, it seems like it would blend pretty well into the background and escape our notice until it’s too late.
It should be comforting to know that this can’t possibly sneak up on you in the night.
Here we see the Nepenthes Hamata, which is actually a plant and not some kind of horrific worm with teeth.
That’s not to say it doesn’t have teeth and isn’t horrific, though.
I’m sorry to say that we aren’t just looking at one unusual creature here.
Instead, we’re seeing the larvae of the Glyptapanteles wasp burst through the unfortunate caterpillar that unwittingly hosted its eggs before this moment.
It seems like an awful way to go out.
Just because an animal is beautiful, that doesn’t mean it can’t seriously mess you up.
This tiger has a condition called Leucism, which means that it was born without most of the pigment in its fur.
But no matter how majestic it looks, it’s best to admire it from afar.
If your friends ask you to bet on who would win between a shark and a crocodile, here’s a photo that should help you win.
After all, there’s not much that a shark can do once the crocodile takes it to shore, which is exactly what has happened here.
This fight is far from over, but it goes a long way to show why predators tend to watch for the weaker members of the herd.
When a zebra is strong enough to fight back, the lion can find itself locked in a very intense struggle as we can see here.
The struggles between animals aren’t just limited to wilderness settings.
As we can see from this photo taken in Toronto, Canada, a fox is proudly showing off the squirrel it just caught.
Even as an adult human, it would be hard not to feel like I climbed the wrong branch with this staring me in the face.
With that in mind, I can only imagine how screwed this squirrel feels right now.
By the same token, it seems like I would need a lot of other dogs in my pack to feel comfortable in this situation.
Apparently, this mother hyena is trying to ward these dogs away and she’s making a pretty convincing argument.
It’s easy to be intimidated by alligators, crocodiles, and caimans, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have adorable sides to them as well.
For instance, look how happy this one seems to be about all these pretty butterflies hanging out on its head.
Even fearsome reptiles like to chill out sometimes.
I suppose it’s up to you as to whether the context makes this photo creepy or cute.
Sadly, we haven’t discovered an alien life form. Instead, we’re looking at baby octopuses that haven’t quite hatched from their eggs yet.
It’s unclear what exactly these ants are eating here, but I don’t think there’s a non-unsettling answer.
They may not be the worst infestation one could possibly have, but watching them devour a larger creature together definitely makes it clear that they’re no joke.
No matter what is going on with the alligator snapping turtle under this ice, there’s something eerie about seeing it like this.
Those animals don’t hibernate, so it’s either still moving around underneath this ice sheet or it’s dead.
This colorful worm also manages to be pretty ugly, but that’s not really its defining feature.
As Wired reported , the Bobbit worm is known for its razor-sharp jaws that can boast the ability to split a fish in half with one bite.
It’s kind of hard to tell what’s happening here, but it’s worth noting that we’re looking at the work of just one ant.
That’s right, although this bird is 300 times the size of this ant, the little insect is still able to hold it up.
